Appendix 15U
Information
on Internalized
Ageism
People of all ages in American society hold deeply internalized attitudes and beliefs
that a person’s worth rests on their productivity and ability to maintain independence
(Chabot, 2000). These attitudes affect both young people and elders. For example, in
awarding damages for wrongful death, the age and productivity of the person is a
major factor. Using midlife as the standard, older people and young people are generally valued as worth less. Indeed, aging well is to be as active and financially well off
as one was in midlife (assuming one is at least middle class.) The terms “successful”
or “productive” aging are often used to gauge the relative value of one’s life in old age,
while criteria such as wisdom, happiness, and quality of relationships, valued in some
other cultures, are ignored.
It is interesting to note that Chinese culture has a generally positive view of aging
and that older Chinese have a higher memory performance than older Americans, perhaps because of our “internalized” ageism (Levy & Langer, 1994 as cited in Kite & Wagner, 2002). Infanticide is still practiced in certain parts of the world (Kohl, 1978), and
some ethicists and physicians in Boston, Massachusetts expressed concern that a test
profiled by the Boston Globe in June 2005 “could lead to sex-selective abortion” (www.
kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports.repro). A California gynecologist has been asked to
defend his practice of advertising a fetus sex determination procedure in certain communities where women have been known to seek an abortion after being told that they
carried a female fetus.
While we may value old people such as grandmothers who are caregivers or “elder
statesmen” who are role models, we often share negative attitudes towards “senior
citizens” (Brewer & Lui 1984) and internalize beliefs that the old cannot be beautiful,
sexual or desirable. We routinely use language that values young people such as the
common phrases: “It keeps me young,” “I don’t feel a day over 40,” and “My, you look
so young.”
Billions are spent annually on anti-aging from hair color products to botox treatments. Communication with the elderly is often patronizing, depersonalized, and
© Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, Second Edition, Routledge, 2007
disrespectful, reflecting this devaluing of old age (Williams & Giles, 1998). Baby talk,
according to Arluke and Levin (1984), “creates a self-fulfilling prophecy in that older
people come to accept and believe that they are no longer independent, contributing
adults and that they must assume a passive, dependent role (Butler, Lewis, & Sunderland, 1991). Exposure to negative stereotypes that devalue their lives can even lead old
people to decline life-sustaining or life-extending treatments and procedures.
Possible lists:
Ageism: Internalized Subordination
Worth as a person/self-concept is negatively
affected
Belief that old people are not desirable
sexually or otherwise
Loss of confidence in their ability to act
independently (learned helplessness)
The assumption that certain health conditions
are inevitable byproducts of aging resulting
in not seeking treatment
Cycle of dependence
Ageism: Internalized Domination
Belief that elders are not worth much to
society, that non-elder adults have more to
contribute to society than do elders
Belief that elders are unproductive and nonelder adults are the productive members of
society whose knowledge is more important
/ up-to-date / valuable
Belief that elders are not desirable sexually or
otherwise and that their sexuality is
inappropriate, quaint, funny
References
Arluke, A., & Levin, J. (1984, August-September). Another stereotype: Old age as a second childhood. Aging, 7–11.
Brewer, M. B., & Lui, L. (1984). Categorization of the elderly by the elderly: Effects of
the perceiver’s category membership. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,
10(4), 585-595.
Butler, R., Lewis, M., & Sunderland, T. (1991). Aging and mental health: Positive psychosocial and biomedical approaches. New York: Macmillan.
Chabot, H. (2000). Predicting ageist and sexist attitudes and the conditions for their
existence (Doctoral dissertation, University of New Hampshire) Dissertation
Abstracts International, 60 (12-B), 6420.
Kite, M., & Wagner, L. S. (2002). Attitudes towards older adults. In T. E. Nelson (Ed.),
Ageism: Stereotyping and prejudice against older persons. Cambridge, MA: The
MIT Press.
Kohl, M. (Ed.). (1978). Infanticide and the value of life. New York: Promethus Books.
Williams, A., & Giles, H. (1998) Communication of ageism. In Hecht, M. (Ed) Communicating prejudice. (pp. 136-160). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
© Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, Second Edition, Routledge, 2007